Previously, the European ombudsman, several MEP representatives and NGOs urged that these messages be made public, but this has not happened so far, it was said in the M1 news channel.
A Belgian lobbyist has reported the president of the European Commission to court for purchasing Pfizer vaccines, Euractiv has learned.
The Brussels news portal writes that Ursula von der Leyen's immunity may even be suspended.
The complainant, Frédéric Baldan, wants to finally find out what the president of the European Commission texted with the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
Irregular agreement
In December 2020, Ursula von der Leyen announced that the Pfizer vaccine had been approved for use in the EU. It was the first coronavirus vaccine to be licensed. Thus, within days, vaccinations began in the member states with the first 300 million doses.
A few months later, the European Commission agreed with the American-German Pfizer-BioNTech on the purchase of another 1.8 billion vaccines in total.
In the meantime, however, suspicions arose that the agreement was not legal.
Lost track of messages
The New York Times reported that Ursula von der Leyen agreed on the €35 billion purchase with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla via simple text messages (sms) from Ursula von der Leyen's private phone.
Since then, it has not been revealed exactly what the text messages contained, as no trace of the messages has been lost.
A huge scandal arose from this. Several EU politicians objected that the husband of the president of the European Commission, Heiko von der Leyen, is the medical director of an American pharmaceutical company. Therefore, it would have been incompatible for Ursula von der Leyen to discuss vaccine procurement alone.
The European Court of Auditors also launched an investigation, but despite the fact that they requested the release of the text messages, the commission refused.
According to the EU ombudsman, Ursula von der Leyen's staff deliberately hindered their work.
He overstepped his authority
They went after Ursula von der Leyen again because of the mysterious Pfizer text messages, writes Mandiner in connection with the Belgian lobbyist's report. The portal quotes Frédéric Baldan, who says that the president of the European Commission has exceeded his powers and violated EU treaties. The Member States did not entrust him, but the Commission, to conclude a contract for the procurement of vaccines. According to the Paris Bar Association, the appointed judge must investigate the complaint.
It wasn't the first time Ursula von der Leyen got into trouble for her text messages. The President of the European Commission, Angela Merkel, also signed consulting contracts via SMS as a minister. In addition, one of Ursula von der Leyen's sons also got a well-paying job with a military company.
Source: hirado.hu
Featured image: Ursula von der Leyen / Photo: AFP/Pool/John Thys
